Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has confirmed she wants to stand in her home constituency of Rhondda at the next National Assembly election in 2016.

Ms Wood, who was born, raised and continues to live in the Rhondda, made the announcement during a speech to mark the first anniversary since being elected to lead her party.

She will now seek nomination as the candidate for the seat from local members ahead of the completion of the selection process within the constituency this summer.

During her speech in the Pierhead Building, which was hosted by Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre, she said: “I began by reminding you that since my election as leader of Plaid Cymru my number one priority has been the economy and jobs.

“There is a reason why I wanted to make the economy, and jobs, my focus. Time and time again people in communities all across Wales have been dealt a severe blow by successive UK governments.

“The saying is ‘home is where the heart is’. It is what shapes us. Growing up where I grew up in the Rhondda has shaped me, personally and politically.

“I grew up seeing the real, every day, crushing impact of the economic devastation which has been wrought upon too many communities in Wales time and time again.

“For far too many of my contemporaries growing up during the 1980s, the possibility of a job felt like a distant pipe dream. And you can still see the lack of hope that joblessness creates in the boarded-up, closed shops.

“Today that hopelessness still echoes around the floors of abandoned factories and empty pits. We have to turn that around. Plaid Cymru is here to provide people with hope.

“The desire to build hope for communities like mine is what brought me into politics in the first place and it is still what drives me today.

“It is the driving force behind my desire to see a Plaid Cymru government in 2016. It is that devastation, that decline that I am determined to see to reversed.

“We have great potential. I want it unlocked. And it is why I am announcing to you today that it is my intention to seek selection to stand in the next Assembly election as the candidate for the Rhondda constituency.

“I know that, for people in the Rhondda, this isn’t as good as it gets. I know that Wales can be successful and can thrive.

“Economics and politics go together. We can only get the economics right if we get the politics right. And that is why I am determined that the next government of Wales will be a Plaid Cymru Government.”

Ms Wood faces a tough fight to oust sitting Rhondda Labour AM Leighton Andrews, the Education Minister. In 2011 he had a majority of 6,739 over his Plaid opponent.

Mr Andrews said: "The Rhondda rejected Leanne Wood in 2001 and I’m sure the people of the Rhondda won’t be fooled by her gesture politics this time.

"This announcement shows just how little faith the Plaid Cymru candidate has in her own ability to win in 2016 and it's cost what little leadership credibility she had. Standing in Rhondda is no more than a political stunt. It’s clear that she plans to get back into the Assembly on the Regional List and the people of the Rhondda will soon see through that.

"In 2003, I won the Rhondda back from Plaid for Labour and beat the Plaid Cymru AM. In 2007 I beat the Plaid Cymru MEP. In 2011, I increased my majority. I look forward to the opportunity of beating Plaid's lacklustre leader in 2016."

Nevertheless, Ms Wood could stay in the Assembly thanks to the announcement earlier this week by Welsh Secretary David Jones that he intends to change the law so that constituency candidates can stand on regional lists once again. Since her first election to the Assembly in 2004, Ms Wood has been a regional AM for South Wales Central.